Here’s Why Lizzo Wants to Follow Taylor Swift’s ‘Genius’ Approach to Music After ‘Bitch’ Failed to Chart

Lizzo thinks Taylor Swift is 100% that b—h when it comes to cultivating her fanbase. While guesting on the Proto Pop web series episode posted Sunday (June 28), the Yitty founder praised the pop superstar for making community a cornerstone of her career.

While speaking to influencer Swiftologist, aka Zachary Hourihane, Lizzo discussed how she’s redefining what’s most important in her music career. Instead of focusing on commercial success or appealing to a mass audience, she says that “now it’s just like, who’s my fanbase? Who’s my community? Who am I talking to?”

“I’m talking to the Lizzbians,” the hitmaker continued of her new approach. “I’m talking to my people. I always talk about Taylor for doing — she’s been doing that for such a long time.”

Indeed, Swift is known for the bond she’s had with fans from the start, from holding free meet-and-greets with them after shows on her first five tours to interacting with them on social media and, at one point, sending some of them Christmas presents she’d selected for them by hand. “I just think it was so genius and so smart,” Lizzo added. “I don’t even know if she had the foresight to do that. I think she just built it organically, and now she has her own community around her to back her up.”

Her remarks about the benefit of prioritizing one’s devoted fanbase over the opinions of the general public comes as part of a larger conversation Lizzo and Hourihane had about the state of pop music. The episode comes shortly after she released her latest album, Bitch, which did not chart on the Billboard 200 or produce any Billboard Hot 100 entries.

“It dropped, and I was like, ‘Oh, OK, this isn’t what I thought it would be,’” Lizzo said candidly of Bitch‘s performance. “I didn’t think it would be crazy, but I also didn’t think it would be this. There was, like, 24 hours of my life where I based my success and my worth on a number, and I think that was soul-crushing.”

That’s why it’s become more important for her than ever to remember whose opinions matter most: her Lizzbians.

Watch Lizzo’s full chat with the Swiftologist above.